Various types of cutting arrangements using cutter rollers placed on parallel shafts are known. Usually, a pair of cutter rollers cooperate, in that the cutter roller of one shaft is positioned to cut against the cutter roller of a stagger parallel shaft. Usually, the sums of the radii of the engageable cutter rollers are greater than the axial spacing of the parallel shafts, and the shafts are so located that immediately adjacent cutter rollers overlap, thus providing a shearing effect or a scissor cutting effect on a web which is passed between the cutter rollers.
If a web is to be cut, for example into a plurality of ribbons of the web material of predetermined width, and the width of the ribbons is to be changed, it is necessary to re-position the cutter rollers on their respective shafts in desired or selected positions. This requires loosening the cutter rollers from rotation engagement with the shafts, and re-positioning them in a new desired or selected position thereon. If the cutting pattern is to remain the same for a long period of time, suitable set screws and the like can adjust the position of the cutter wheels once and for all by hand, without further problems being encountered. If, however, the position of the cutter wheels on the shafts is to be changed frequently, to make ribbons or sub-webs of different widths, frequent change of the axial position of the cutter rollers on the shafts is necessary.
It has previously been proposed, see German Patent Disclosure Document 21 26 018, to provide a positioning and clamping element interposed between the shaft and the cutter roller, which clamping element can be subjected to a pressure force, to expand the clamping element and, selectively, effect clamping between the positioning ring and carrier for the cutter wheel and, hence, clamping it in position, while permitting release upon change in pressure level and axial shifting of the cutter wheel. This arrangement, however, has a disadvantage. As the shaft carrying the cutter wheel rotates, the operating element to control the clamping force continually changes its rotary position. To change the axial position of a cutter wheel, the shaft is stopped. The angular position of the shaft, when it stops, is not predetermined. Thus, it is necessary to rotate the shaft, either manually or in a "creep" mode under power, to expose the operating elements for the clamping system and bring them into a region so that an operator can release the clamping engagement and reposition the cutter wheels.
If the shafts are heavy, and can be rotated, effectively, only under power, arrangements are then required to determine the angular position of the shaft, and controlling further rotation of the shaft to reach a final or stopped position at a predetermined location. These are subject to malfunction, and greatly increase the system and apparatus requirements of a cutter apparatus.